After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

—That’s it, goodbye. —

As the last voice flashed through his mind, the Faceless King’s figure became transparent and disappeared silently and without a trace into the night.

Chapter 40 Quitting Halfway

"Damn freak, what the hell is going on? How did you get away so easily!?"

What happened in the past few seconds almost drove Violet crazy.

As the undisputed number one magician in the world today, she has an almost conceited pride and confidence in her skills and knowledge.

As a result, despite being fully prepared, the other party escaped so easily, causing considerable trouble to Aize's plan.

The witch lady rarely lost her composure.

"An illusion? Could it be that it was just an illusion from the beginning to the end, and the real body isn't actually here? No, that's impossible. The detection technique just now did sense something, so how is this possible?"

"That guy is your fellow leader, so you should have met him before, right? Haven't you heard of his abilities?"

Villian made a bitter face and shook her head:

"No, after all, the true nature of the Faceless Men is only known to the Demon King himself. We outsiders don't even know if the Faceless King is the same individual every time he appears. After all, they all look the same... Damn it, damn it, they actually look down on me!!!"

"Alright, alright. After all, he's the leader. It's normal for him to have some unique skills. Of course, he'll be caught off guard when there's insufficient intelligence. Don't take it too seriously."

Seeing that she was so angry that she was gritting her teeth, her face was red, and she was even stamping her feet, Aize quickly stepped forward and patted her shoulder to comfort her.

This made Violet feel a little relieved.

But still has the look of wanting to cry but no tears:

"But... what should we do now? If we don't get any information out of that guy, it will be very troublesome to deal with that woman next time, right?"

Of course, it refers to Rosalyn.

Under the existing rhythm and system, everything that happens can be described as supernatural.

Aize believed that there must be a reasonable explanation, but since he was always being led by the rhythm, he had no idea where to start if he couldn't find a breakthrough.

Therefore, I took this opportunity of the Faceless Man to try to understand something.

It turned out like this.

It's a pity indeed, but Villian's attitude will only make her blame herself if she tells the truth. Aize can only take the pressure on himself:

"It's okay. This was just an extra opportunity that came out of nowhere. I was just lazy and didn't take it. I'll just do what I need to do next. Just proceed as usual."

"But……"

"Don't be so nagging. Please help me check on the Marquise's condition. I'll go call for help... Of course, I have to tell the Marquis and Chris about this. I can't let her wife lie here forever."

Villian hesitated for a moment, then smoothed her hair vigorously, trying to calm herself down.

"Well, leave it to me."

He turned around, laid the Countess, who had lost consciousness and fallen to the ground, almost curled up into a ball, and then performed a spell to check her condition.

Aize turned around and walked down the city wall. After explaining the situation to the guards he met, he went straight to the banquet hall.

In the darkness, his expression was extremely solemn.

The Faceless King possesses undetectable abilities of possession and mind-reading, as well as bizarre traits that even Villian cannot fathom. His personality and intelligence are also quite tricky.

From the perspective of intelligence warfare, it is perfect.

It is very likely that he will become the most difficult opponent that Aize has ever faced since he traveled through time.

What's more, what Aize cared about more was its attitude just now.

With the huge advantage of being undetectable, it actually has no need to escape. It can even use its identity to continue to disgust Aize and sow discord.

There is only one explanation for why Ruci freed the Countess so decisively: he had more important things to do and couldn't waste his time entangled with Aize.

This "more important" matter is most likely related to what it saw in Rosaline's mind, so the original plan can be abandoned.

What it is exactly is unclear.

But Aize's intuition told him that if he couldn't find a breakthrough, something terrible might happen.

"...Is it still the only way to deal with Rosaline head-on? Ha, there's nothing else I can do."

What the Faceless King just said was right, Aize might really be a little afraid of that guy.

But since the entire church was scared to death, there was nothing to be embarrassed about admitting.

Just do it and that’s it.

Aize let out a long, gentle breath and made up his mind.

----------

On the other side of the Central Mountains, on the wasteland not far from human territory, stands abruptly a building constructed of pure stone.

In terms of specifications, it should be considered a palace by humans, but its interior style is so daunting that any human would hesitate to enter.

The narrow corridors, the humid air, the dim light that almost makes it feel like there is no space, and the footsteps and other strange noises coming from the darkness are enough to cause physical discomfort.

In the central area of this palace, there is a very large and extremely cold space, in the center of which is a polygonal stone table.

Around the table sat more than a dozen dark human-shaped figures.

Judging from the appearance alone, whether it is height, body width or shape, it is no different from humans.

But everyone's body was wrapped in a gorgeous robe made of precious metals, and their head was hidden behind a huge mask, which looked heavy and cumbersome.

The mask's face was expressionless, like a sculpture.

"Slow, too slow! What the hell are those faceless freaks doing!?"

A figure sitting near the entrance suddenly stood up and scolded in an unpleasant voice with a hoarse voice that was unpleasant.

"They said there would be news after sunset, but it's already late at night! There's absolutely no news! Is this plan still going ahead? What should we do? There's no explanation at all!"

Another figure immediately echoed:

"Lord Anderson is absolutely right. This was our original plan. We only brought the Faceless Men along for the Demon Lord's sake, but they still dared to act like big shots! How about we just go it alone?"

The voices were just as hoarse, even more so than the previous one, so vague that they were almost inaudible, which explained their non-human status.

Following these two statements, the silent room suddenly became buzzing with discussion.

When they whispered to each other, they all expressed their dissatisfaction with the Faceless Men.

Then--

"quiet!!!"

The voice was full of energy and roar, completely different from the strange and ear-irritating accents of others.

Sitting on the stone throne at the innermost part of the room, a figure wearing equally exaggerated and outrageous decorations stood up. An unusually cold aura instantly spread, plunging the entire room into silence.

After quickly taking control of the situation, he began to pace around the room:

"How many years have we waited for this plan? Three hundred years, a full three hundred years! How come you are so impatient that you can't even wait for these last few days?"

"But, Sir Frederick, we..."

Before he could finish his words, a heavy friction sound suddenly rang out.

The stone door of the room slowly moved and opened. From the dark and suffocating corridor, a cloaked figure slowly walked in.

Under the gaze of everyone, it stopped in front of the person called Frederick, raised its head, and looked at the other person for a while with the hollow hole under its cloak.

Then, with a burst of sticky and weird figures, the cloak disappeared, and another Frederick appeared there.

He bowed slowly to everyone and spoke slowly:

"Sorry, I'm late."

Such a clear provocative act caused everyone at the stone table to riot almost immediately:

"You freak, do you want to die? How dare you turn into Lord Frederick?!"

"We thought you were sent by the Demon King, so we wouldn't dare do anything to you! This is our territory!"

……

……

Some people even stood up and gathered their magic power, intending to grind this disgusting guy into ashes.

However, the impersonator, Frederick, simply raised his hand calmly and made a quiet gesture.

asked:

"Faceless, what does this mean?"

"Don't you guys dislike the Faceless Men's way of communicating? Changing it this way will make everyone feel more comfortable. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, right?"

Frederick, the incarnation of the Faceless Man, said so.

The real thing doesn't want to talk nonsense with it:

"Tell me, what happened to the plan? Why did the news come so late?"

"It failed. It failed completely because of the intervention of the brave Aize."

The blunt, emotionless answer once again aroused the anger of the others in the room.

Seeing that several people were about to stand up and rush forward, Frederick waved his hand to make them stop.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Frederick himself is in a good mood at the moment.

It was purely to give some face to his opponent, who was also one of the thirteen leaders, and of course the Demon King who sent him.

"So, you Faceless Men put so much effort into this, even asking us to modify our plans to accommodate you, and this is all you get in the end? Just a simple 'failure'? Shouldn't there be some other kind of response?"

"Yes, we are here to inform you that the Faceless Men will completely withdraw from this plan. You can proceed independently according to the previous plan and do not need to consider us anymore."

"……ha?"

If Frederick hadn't been wearing a mask, his expression would have been quite ferocious.

"This time, it was the Demon Lord who ordered us to act together. You're one of the leaders, so you should know the weight of it! You want to quit just like that? What do you think of the Demon Lord? What do you think of us?"

Ominous purple magic began to flow throughout Frederick's body, and the cold aura spread further, making the already dim room become like an abyss.

But the Faceless Man still showed no sign of fear.

Even more provocative:

"Only half-baked demons like you would keep mentioning the Demon King."

"you wanna die!!!"

Frederick, the surging light instantly swallowed up and crushed the fake self.

However, as the light faded, the cloaked figure emerged from the dark air again, seemingly unharmed.

- I will explain to the Demon King, so you don't need to worry about it. Just proceed as usual. -

The Faceless Man's unique "voice" echoed in the minds of everyone present as the cloak appeared.

—By the way, this matter has been confirmed. I came here to inform you, not to discuss it with you. So, I wish you all the best, and goodbye—

After saying this, the figure floated and retreated silently, like ink dropped into water, blending into the darkness and disappearing without a trace.

Only a bunch of masks were left in the room looking at each other in confusion.

After a long while, someone finally asked tentatively:

"Sir Frederick, we..."

"Notify everyone to change arrangements and proceed according to our original plan. We must prepare quickly, as the complacent Imperials will soon begin their action!"

Frederick ordered coldly:

"It doesn't matter. Without those freaks, things would be much simpler. We will turn this place into the grave of the little prince and the brave Aize!"

Chapter 41 Transformation

With the departure of the Faceless Men, this small but extremely deadly riot that occurred before the expedition finally came to an end in this castle.

The unconscious Countess was carried back to the bedroom. The others who received the news from Aize immediately put down their knives and forks and rushed there.